Participation involvement and mental health among young people with physical disabilities: preliminary findings using the experience sampling method

OBJECTIVES: To describe participation patterns and aspects of mental health of youth with physical disabilities and to examine the momentary associations between participation involvement and affect within and across participants. METHODS: Experience Sampling Method was employed among seven participants (5females, 2males) aged 19 to 25 yrs (median = 21yrs). Using the m-Path app, youth reported real-time participation experiences and associated affect, twice daily, for 2 weeks, totaling 28 observations/youth. Individual-based graphs illustrating the association between involvement and affect were tested using Pearson correlation. To determine the overall effect across participants, linear mixed-effect models were used. RESULTS: Out of 151 observations, most activities were done at home (63%) and involved ≥1 people (69%). Positive associations between involvement and affect were observed in 6 out of 7 plots, with 5 showing statistically significant correlations (r = 0.38 to 0.7; p < 0.05). Linear mixed-effects models showed that affect increased by 0.27 points for each additional person involved (p < 0.001) and by 0.48 points for every unit increase in involvement (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This initial evaluation suggests positive associations between participation involvement and affect, measured using experience sampling approach, highlighting the importance of doing and being with others for transition-aged youth with physical disabilities.